[No!]
An ear-piercing scream came from the clearing, and all the figures in the black fog lunged at Ivan with distorted faces, enveloping Alicia, Hermione, Luna, and the others who had been lying on the ground.
However, their faces were now terrifying. Their expressions were all twisted together, and black mist kept spewing out of their eyes and mouths.
"Expecto Patronus!" Ivan shouted as he drew his wand, and the flickering white light tore through the black fog. The black shadows melted away in the blinding white light, and the screams stopped.
Everything returned to normal, with Harry, Sirius, and Lupin standing nearby.
The Horcrux on the table grew dim, and the inside of the locket began to crack. Ivan picked it up and examined it.
Ivan sighed. Lord Voldemort's broken soul was so deeply involved with this magical object that it inevitably broke when it was destroyed.
"What happened to the black fog? I suddenly couldn't see anything…" Harry, who had no idea what was going on, looked blankly at Ivan.
"Don't worry, the fog was caused by this thing, and now I've destroyed it…" Ivan waved the locket in his hand and asked what Harry and the others had seen in the black fog.
The trio shook their heads, indicating that they were trapped in a dark space with nothing but black fog.
Ivan immediately understood that the Horcrux was using most of its power against him, and did not specifically target Harry and the others except for reading their memories.
"Sirius, can I borrow this locket for a while?" Ivan asked Sirius.
The locket was broken, but it belonged to Slytherin, and they might be able to learn something from it.
"Don't mention it, it's yours!" Sirius waved his hand, not caring about the antique-looking locket.
Add to that the fact that Ivan had destroyed it, and he thanked Ivan on Regulus's behalf.
"But… Ivan, did you just open this locket in snake language?!" Sirius asked hesitantly, suddenly remembering the strange notes Ivan had made at the locket.
Ivan looked away from the locket, thinking Sirius was making too much of a fuss about it, so he turned to Harry and continued, "Well, I learned it when I was in school, and to be honest, it's not that hard, many people do!"
"Don't you agree? Harry!"
"Ah… yes, that's right. I speak snake, too." Harry hesitated for a moment, then nodded. He could communicate with snakes, so he could probably be considered to be in the language.
Sirius and Lupin looked at each other in dismay. The language of snakes was a rare talent and was rumoured to be associated with Dark Wizards. When did it become common knowledge?
"I hear Professor Dumbledore speaks snake, too! That's why your ideas are so old-fashioned. Just like your family, Sirius, which has produced a lot of bastards, there are also righteous people like you and Regulus, aren't there?" Ivan tried to explain again, to dispel their doubts.
Sirius and Lupin smiled wryly, unsure how to respond.
Kreacher, who had also recovered from the effects of the black fog, was staring at the cracked locket in Ivan's hand.
"Sir! You destroyed it. My God, you really destroyed it! Kreacher… Kreacher finally did what Master Regulus wanted him to do…" The elderly house-elf trembled as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Thank you so much… sir!" Kreacher was beside himself with excitement. He reached out with his dirty hand, which was covered in tears and snot, and tried to hug Ivan's thigh, but Ivan avoided him.
Sirius quickly ordered Kreacher to remain where he was until the house-elf had calmed down a little.
"Kreacher, I want to know more about Regulus and… what happened to the family after I left."
Sniffling, Kreacher told her how upset his mistress and the rest of the family were when Sirius left.
'Well, they'd be upset? Come on, they'd be upset about the damage to the Black family reputation I've done since I left… Don't think they don't know my mother's removed me from the family tree!' Sirius scoffed.
Kreacher glared at him with eyes the size of lightbulbs, but eventually pursed his lips and went on about what had happened.
Not long after Sirius left home, the Dark Lord's influence grew, attracting the attention of the House of Black, who, impressed with the mistress of the Dark Lord's concept, provided her with a large sum of money to fund Voldemort's establishment.
Bellatrix then joined the Death Eaters, along with the rest of the Black family, and finally Regulus!
"Master Regulus was overjoyed, as the Dark Lord regarded him as his right-hand man. However, he deserved it. What wizard could be as good as Master Regulus?" Kreacher said proudly.
Sirius threw cold water on it. "That's only because Lord Voldemort wants to keep the Black family as his fund!"
Sirius was well aware of his brother's abilities and talents, and would never have expected Voldemort to value him so highly.
Therefore, what the other party really wanted was ample funds and the impact of taking Regulus Black, the heir to the most ancient wizarding family, under their wing.
'Sirius, you'd better cut it out! How long will it take you to finish interrupting Kreacher like that?' Ivan rolled his eyes. 'He's dead. What's the point of correcting minor details?'
'Well, I'll try not to talk from now on, shall I?' Sirius shrugged and turned back to Kreacher. 'Let's skip the useless stuff. You still haven't told us why Regulus chose to betray Voldemort in the end.'
Kreacher shook his head in confusion. He had no idea why Regulus had made the switch, but he tried to remember.
"A year after joining the Death Eaters, the young master changed and was less happy than before…"
"He often whispered to Kreacher because Kreacher was a trusted house-elf, and Master Regulus said that the Dark Lord was about to do something quite different from what he thought and that he might have done something wrong …
Some time later, the Dark Lord himself summoned Master Regulus, and the young master spent the rest of his time in the library flipping through the pages of his book.
"And Master Regulus did not eat properly for several days… until the sixth night, when he came out of the library very excited, saying that he had figured out the Dark Lord's secret," Kreacher said brokenly, reminiscing.